I think there will be other virtual currency based on BTC concept.Namecoin came up, and it is basically BTC, with a little twist.What's to stop another currency to pop up?Just some thoughts

Nothing prevents other virtual currencies from coming up. There will probably be multiple ones based on bitcoin. Bitcoin has first-mover advantage but if a new one comes along with a large enough advantage over bitcoin then it could take over.

I think there will be other virtual currency based on BTC concept.Namecoin came up, and it is basically BTC, with a little twist.What's to stop another currency to pop up?Just some thoughts

There are significant adjustment costs associated with merchants and consumers adopting a new currency. These adjustment costsare, roughly speaking, proportional to the size of the bitcoin economy. If Bitcoin is not widely used when the new crpytocurrency pops up, and if the new cryptocurrency has superior features,Bitcoin will collapse in value and the new currency will take off. If Bitcoin is widely used when the new currency pops up, adjustment costs could allow Bitcoin to retain its valuedespite the alternative currency's manifest superiority. (compare to Microsoft vs. competitors with superior products)

I think there will be other virtual currency based on BTC concept.Namecoin came up, and it is basically BTC, with a little twist.What's to stop another currency to pop up?Just some thoughts

Nothing prevents other virtual currencies from coming up. There will probably be multiple ones based on bitcoin. Bitcoin has first-mover advantage but if a new one comes along with a large enough advantage over bitcoin then it could take over.

It is so nice to completely agree with someone posting on the forum. This is a first for me!

Another possible "competitor" to btc could be from a large internet retailer creating their own blockchain. Imagine if amazon started their own blockchain.

Would be very interesting to see - especially if they made "tweaks" to the system.

Why do mention amazon starting a blockchain? Or anyone for that matter?

The whole point of bitcoin, is that no matter who starts it, or who takes part, no entity has direct control over it.

Curiously enough, "The One" who started bitcoin made it a point to use a pseudonym, and hide their true identity.

ACTUALLY! now that I think about it, any company can start a blockchain, and as they control the initial transaction chain, can automatically allocate 55% of the theoretical currency limit to themselves (essentially controlling the amount of currency available), then release the blockchain to the public.

Though I doubt anyone would take part, as the block chain would clearly show that half the currency is already spoken for by one/few accounts.

Why do mention amazon starting a blockchain? Or anyone for that matter?

The whole point of bitcoin, is that no matter who starts it, or who takes part, no entity has direct control over it.

Curiously enough, "The One" who started bitcoin made it a point to use a pseudonym, and hide their true identity.

ACTUALLY! now that I think about it, any company can start a blockchain, and as they control the initial transaction chain, can automatically allocate 55% of the theoretical currency limit to themselves (essentially controlling the amount of currency available), then release the blockchain to the public.

Though I doubt anyone would take part, as the block chain would clearly show that half the currency is already spoken for by one/few accounts.

And to add to what you say, having 50% (or whatever) of the currency would only grant them control for a while. As time passes and they need to operate to control the currency they would end up loosing control of it, because they dont have the monopolly on the emission of that currency.

Well having a fixed limit and having no central authority are probably two of the most important aspect of bitcoin.

At first I was worried that if a big player like amazon made a move backing their currency with their inventory, they could basicly position themselves as top dog in a new currency... but following that logic, the economy around airmiles and canadian tire money http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canadian_tire_money is already bigger than bitcoin but no one would seriously think of usethem as everyday currency.

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Great but dollars aren't printed by the people. Bitcoins are . My only problem with Bitcoin is that they are limited to 21 mil . Other then that Bitcoins are a revolution in money , fast and almost anonymous transactions over the hole world with really small fees isn't possible with dollars or any other currency . So bitcoins are better than USD . To me bitcoin is too similar to gold witch I can't understand why it was valuable in the first place apart from it's property of being easy to store because it didn't degrade but bitcoin has some advantages over gold , easy divisible , everyone can mine it for now , will be harder in the future but still possible , easy transferable , maybe others.

Now i would like a currency that looses some value over time to make wealth holders spend it on things that get profit and not sit on them. I Think currency shouldn't be a wealth storing medium.

Now i would like a currency that looses some value over time to make wealth holders spend it on things that get profit and not sit on them. I Think currency shouldn't be a wealth storing medium.

Inflation benefits the people that have more wealth because it props up their assets, while it goes against the people that earn a wage (usually the middle class and the poor) because it devaluates their wages. The basic mistake you are making is believing the wealthy keep their wealth in currency. They dont.

You are advocating a policy that would go against the same people you claim to be defending. I dont know where all this is coming from and its not the same time I have heard this "theory". The ones promoting this theory and making people believe it are geniouses.

Oh man, it would suck so hard if every major corporation like Amazon or whatever started using their own virtual currency...

Like these:There's hundreds of those things, and they don't interchange between merchants.

And those are just the ones denominated in dollars. There are "rewards cards", denominated in "points"and phone cards, denominated in "minutes". Those really are a sort of currency, since they have their own unit.

But those are all translated and initiated with a dollar transaction. BTC is independent of the US Dollar in it's origin.

Exactly right. And since there is no real BTC economy, every merchant-like transaction is essentially being done at dollar amounts with BTC being used as an intermediary either for the sake of novelty or to anonymize illegal transactions - in either case, having the BTC converted into dollars almost immediately.

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But those are all translated and initiated with a dollar transaction. BTC is independent of the US Dollar in it's origin.

Exactly right. And since there is no real BTC economy, every merchant-like transaction is essentially being done at dollar amounts with BTC being used as an intermediary either for the sake of novelty or to anonymize illegal transactions - in either case, having the BTC converted into dollars almost immediately.

Not necessarily. Most merchants will be receiving currency and BTC and would apply Gresham's law. They would use the currency for operating expenses and save the BTC according to their own risk appetite and expectations. Liquidating BTC as needed.

They really are a type of currency, people don't think of them as such because they aren't freely convertable, you're pretty much stuck using them on airfare or some fairly limited catalog of products, but companies (like credit card companies) buy them from airlines to give out as rewards.

Amazon could start a new blockchain then give the coins out as rewards points. You could then redeem them for money off on your purchase. They could also sell them to other web sites, you buy an airline ticket and get X amazonRewardPoints. Since it is based on the blockchain, any partner could verify the number of points out there. Also, they could accept points knowing they were free to re-distribute them and that Amazon was effectively fixing their value. Pretty soon you'd have a large network of merchants both giving out and accepting points without having to trust each other not to create an arbitrary amount of points.

Wonder if making a new mine-able currency efficient on ATI cards would be a good thing or a bad thing. Would you want a HUGE jump in hashing power from all the Bitcoin miners switching over? Or maybe make it super efficient on the old 3DFx cards, just for fun